Eisenbud Lectures in Mathematics and Physics, March 11 – 12, 2014

Cumrun Vafa

The Departments of Physics and Mathematics and Brandeis are incredibly excited to announce that this year’s Eisenbud Lectures in Mathematics and Physics will be given by the world-renowned theoretical physicist Prof. Cumrun Vafa, the Donner Professor of Science Harvard University.  Prof. Vafa is one of the leading figures in the fields of string theory and quantum gravity, and he has been on the forefront of the exchange between string theory and geometry that has revolutionized both fields over the last thirty years. He is known for his immense intuition, creativity, and depth of thinking in physics and mathematics.

The Eisenbud Lectures are the result of a bequest by Leonard and Ruth-Jean Eisenbud, and this year marks the 100th anniversary of Leonard Eisenbud’s birth.  Leonard Eisenbud was a mathematical physicist at SUNY-Stony Brook; upon his retirement he moved to the Boston area, as his son David was a member of the Mathematics faculty at Brandeis, and was given a desk here.  The bequest is for an annual lecture series by physicists and mathematicians working on the boundary between the first two fields.

The Eisenbud lectures consist of three lectures.  The first is a colloquium-style lecture meant for a broad scientific audience.  The following two lectures are more technical lectures meant for experts in the field.  The schedule is:

Lecture 1: “String Theory and the Magic of Extra Dimensions”, Tuesday, March 11 at 4PM in Abelson 131.  Tea, coffee, and refreshments will be served at 3:30 outside of the lecture hall. A reception will follow the talk.

Lecture 2: “Recent Progress in Topological Strings I”, Wednesday, March 12 at 11 AM in Abelson 333.

Lecture 3: “Recent Progress in Topological Strings II”, Wednesday March 12 at 4 PM in Abelson 229.

We hope to see you all at what promises to be a very exciting series of talks!

— Albion Lawrence, Dept. of Physics. and Bong Lian, Dept. of Mathematics